The end is nigh for Bashar al-Assad. The clock is ticking and it is only a matter of time now before he is either over-run, killed or needs to rely on the Russians to get him out. basically the opposition has learned and adapted and Syria’s armed forces do not have the skills to counter-act developments not the time to develop those skills:

The opposition’s rapid mastery of improvised explosives since the spring changed the character and momentum of this conflict, and put Syria’s army, notwithstanding what seems its enduring material strength, in a highly unenviable position.

All of this will be grounds for much more work, analysis and comment than can be shoe-horned into one news story. Military historians will spend time on these themes. This is in part because the turnabout here – a government that long exported improvised explosive technology in the region now stands to have its army unraveled by improvised explosives — is compelling. But the commentary will be richer and more subtle than that, ranging from technical analysis to moral querying, and to arguments over how to label and engage the various forces within the anti-Assad opposition, and their war.